World of Outlaws at Ohsweken: Sides wins in front of a jam-packed crowd

It was an incredible night on Wednesday at Ohsweken Speedway when the World of Outlaws paid their inaugural visit to the Brantford, ON-area dirt track for their first-ever visit... but you can bet it won't be their last.

In spite of installing tons of new seating for the event, it was a standing-room-only crowd who saw great racing and some fun laser and fireworks shows at Glenn Styres' facility. In its entirety, it has to go down as one of the most memorable racing shows in Ontario short track history.

Thanks to Glenn and his staff for their hospitality. At our booth behind the main grandstands, we sold more subscriptions on this night than during the entire recent Toronto Grand Prix race weekend.

I've put together a photo gallery made up of some photos taken by myself and Dave Franks. Thanks to Dave for putting them on the FTP late last night! I didn't get a chance to say 'hi', but I saw Derek Smith on the infield, so his racepulse site will no doubt be full of shots at some point soon.

Glenn and his family dug deep to bring the Outlaws to their track and dug even deeper to upgrade their facility. And they were rewarded with a full house and a night that won't soon be forgotten by anyone who was there. Congratulations all around. See below for the official WoW report from Tony Veneziano.

*******

By Tony Veneziano, World of Outlaws PR Director
Ohsweken, ON — Jason Sides had been close to winning on several occasions this season with the World of Outlaws. He finished second at New Egypt Speedway in May in the closest event of the season, coming just 0.028 seconds short of the win. In June at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois, he had a sizeable lead and appeared to be well on his way to a victory when he had a tire go flat.
On Wednesday night in the World of Outlaws inaugural visit to Ohsweken Speedway in Canada, he would not be denied, as he picked up his first A-Feature win of the season with the series and the second of his career, holding off a furious charge by Jac Haudenschild and Donny Schatz.
“Coming here for the first time and winning is great,” said Sides, driver of the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim. “Winning the first race in Canada in a long time is special as well. Winning period is great for us this year. To get a win for all of the sponsors that we have that put so much into this is worth it.”
The race began with Sam Hafertepe Jr. leading into the first turn and Sides quickly taking the second spot from Joey Saldana, with Schatz the pole sitter falling back to fourth.
Hafertepe, a contender for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award would lead the first 13 laps, before Sides would take the lead on the 14th circuit. The pair was closing in on traffic, when Sides went to the low side of the second turn to make the pass for the lead and ultimately the win.
Late in the race, Sides had Jac Haudenschild and Donny Schatz right on him as the trio negotiated lapped traffic. He held off several attempts by Haudenschild to take the lead and then charged under guest flagman Roger Slack’s checkered flag with Schatz just less than a half-second behind him. Sides had raced once in Canada previously, in the mid-1990’s.
“I approached the track like it was Sharon (Speedway in Ohio) or somewhere else that we have been and compare it to that,” explained the winner. “We got a good start here and it seemed to go our way.”
Sides thrilled the record setting crowd at Ohsweken Speedway by turning three separate sets of donuts down the front straightaway as well as the first and second turns as he celebrated his first win with the series since the 2004 Kings Royal.
“I learned to do donuts like that from TK (Tim Kaeding),” smiled Sides. “Dennis Moore and him are the kings of doing 360’s. I’ve watched them and I’ve only gotten to do them one other time, and this seemed like a good time to do it for the Canadian fans. I hope they enjoyed it.”
With the inaugural event at Ohsweken being the sixth race in a nine-day period, Sides was very happy to get the win for his crew who along with himself has been putting in countless hours working on the car and also endured some bad luck last weekend.
“The crew has been working their tails off,” he noted. “It’s been one extreme to the other. We blew up at Williams Grove and didn’t make the dash and then we missed the show at Lebanon Valley. Winning certainly makes up for that.”
Schatz won his series leading eighth Crane Cams Dash to earn the pole position and fell back three spots on the opening lap, before moving into third on the 14th lap getting around Hafertepe. For the next 14 laps he would stage an epic battle with Steve Kinser. On the final lap of the race, Schatz took the second spot from Haudenschild and nearly edged Sides as they charged down the front straightaway. The runner-up finish was his 46th Top-10 finish of the season.
“We were there at the end, but we were not very good at the beginning,” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “I gave my guys some bad information after the dash about what the car was doing. We used that information to make the changes to the car and I learned from my mistake and now we can go back and fix it tomorrow.”
While he was disappointed he did not, Schatz was one of the first people to congratulate Sides in the winner’s circle. With his strong run, Schatz extended his point lead on Joey Saldana, as the pair continues to battle for the World of Outlaws championship.
“We had a legitimate shot to win,” said the reigning World of Outlaws champion and current point leader. “If it would have been 40 laps, I think it would have been a different show. I’m glad for Jason (Sides). He needed the win. He’s had some good runs and we feel like we need the wins, but he needed one more.”
While he had raced in Canada in the past, Schatz like the rest of the World of Outlaws drivers had never been to Ohsweken Speedway. He was very pleased with how the evening went and was very complimentary of track owner Glenn Styres and his entire staff.
“It’s a unique place,” noted the native of Fargo, North Dakota. “They put a lot of work into this. It’s kind of like racing in your own backyard at home, with him (Styres) living right here. It goes to show how much hard work he has put in and it’s pretty gratifying for him. It’s a really neat set-up and they thought of a lot of things that other places don’t have.”
Haudenschild started the 30-lap A-Feature in the sixth spot. He got around Schatz and Saldana on the opening lap to move into third. He passed Hafertepe on the 14th lap to move into the runner-up spot. He shadowed Sides for most of the rest of the race, closing to within inches of the leader in traffic on several occasions. He repeatedly tried the way side of turn two to find away around Sides. After Schatz slipped by him on the last lap, Haudenschild finished third to earn his 10th Top-Five finish of the season.
“We are pretty happy,” said Haudenschild, driver of the Wright One Construction Maxim. “The car has been running strong the last couple of races and the guys have been working hard on it. We’ve been right there. Hopefully we can keep running up front.”
The veteran driver tried a few different lines during the race and settled into one that saw him use both the high and low side of the track as he tracked down Sides and tried to pass him.
“The high side was fastest off (turns) one and two and the low side was fastest off (turns) three and four,” said the native of Wooster, Ohio. “It’s a nice wide race track and a nice place. I enjoyed coming here.”
Steve Kinser finished fourth in the Q Oil Maxim, in his first race in Canada in 25 years. The 20-time series champion is the only driver that has competed in all five Canadian events in the series history. He waged several entertaining battles during the 30-lap event first with Joey Saldana and then Donny Schatz en route to earning his 24th Top-Five finish of the season.
Danny Lasoski began the night by setting a new track record aboard the Roth Motorsports JEI. Trouble in his heat forced him into the B-Main which he won handily to earn the 11th starting spot in the A-Feature. He passed Tony Bruce Jr. on the opening lap before getting around Justin Henderson around the halfway point of the race. He battled Craig Dollansky for several laps and moved into the fifth spot, where he would finish, with just six laps to go.
Joey Saldana was sixth in the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI, with Craig Dollansky in the Karavan Trailers Maxim in seventh. Justin Henderson was eighth in the Jolt Energy Gum Rocket. Daryn Pittman started 20th and finished ninth to earn the KSE Race Products Hard Charger Award aboard the Titan Garages Maxim. Paul McMahan rounded out the Top-10 in the Bass Pro Shops Eagle.
The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, July 27 at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan.


World of Outlaws Statistical Report; Ohsweken Speedway; Ohsweken, ON; July 25, 2007

Qualifying
1) 83-Danny Lasoski 12.944
2) 11-Steve Kinser 12.947
3) 9-Joey Saldana 12.970
4) 20-Paul McMahan 13.019
5) 15-Donny Schatz 13.031
6) 7-Craig Dollansky 13.075
7) 8K-Chad Kemenah 13.077
8) R19-Jason Solwold 13.079
9) 7S-Jason Sides 13.095
10) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr. 13.123
11) 14-Jason Meyers 13.148
12) 35-Jac Haudenschild 13.189
13) 10C-Jeremy Campbell 13.200
14) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. 13.227
15) D1-Justin Henderson 13.231
16) 2M-Dustin Daggett 13.239
17) 11H-Kerry Madsen 13.259
18) 6-Tim Shaffer 13.265
19) 1X-Randy Hannagan 13.267
20) 18-Brian Carlson 13.295
21) 21-Daryn Pittman 13.320
22) 9B-Bobby Breen 13.328
23) 1Z-Jessica Zemken 13.344
24) 4-Danny Smith 13.401
25) 24-Terry McCarl 13.425
26) 5C-Chad Hillier 13.434
27) 3T-John Schuyler 13.480
28) 36-Jason Martin 13.638
29) 12C-Fred Cade 13.639
30) 8-Blake Breen 13.727
31) O-James Porter 14.012
32) 27H-Tom Huppunen 14.025
33) 42-Kyle Patrick 14.027
34) 5-Keith Dempster 14.239
35) F37-Jamie Collard 14.331
36) 69-Rob Pietz 14.367
37) 38-Brad Knab 14.538

Heat 1 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 7S-Jason Sides
3) 21-Daryn Pittman
4) 11H-Kerry Madsen
5) 10C-Jeremy Campbell
6) 24-Terry McCarl
7) 83-Danny Lasoski
8) 42-Kyle Patrick
9) 12C-Fred Cade
10) 38-Brad Knab

Heat 2 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
3) 11-Steve Kinser
4) 7-Craig Dollansky
5) 6-Tim Shaffer
6) 5C-Chad Hillier
7) 8-Blake Breen
8) 9B-Bobby Breen
9) 5-Keith Dempster

Heat 3 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 9-Joey Saldana
2) D1-Justin Henderson
3) 14-Jason Meyers
4) 1X-Randy Hannagan
5) 8K-Chad Kemenah
6) 1Z-Jessica Zemken
7) O-James Porter
8) F37-Jamie Collard
9) 3T-John Schuyler

Heat 4 (8 Laps, top 5 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 2M-Dustin Daggett
2) 35-Jac Haudenschild
3) R19-Jason Solwold
4) 20-Paul McMahan
5) 4-Danny Smith
6) 36-Jason Martin
7) 18-Brian Carlson
8) 69-Rob Pietz
9) 27H-Tom Huppunen

Crane Cams Dash (6 laps, finishing order determined first 10 starting positions of A-feature)
1) 15-Donny Schatz
2) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.
3) 9-Joey Saldana
4) 7S-Jason Sides
5) 20-Paul McMahan
6) 35-Jac Haudenschild
7) 11-Steve Kinser
8) D1-Justin Henderson
9) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.
10) 2M-Dustin Daggett

B-main (12 laps, top 4 finishers transferred to A-feature)
1) 83-Danny Lasoski
2) 5C-Chad Hillier
3) 24-Terry McCarl
4) 1Z-Jessica Zemken
5) 9B-Bobby Breen [$200]
6) 18-Brian Carlson [$180]
7) 8-Blake Breen [$175]
8) 27H-Tom Huppunen [$160]
9) 42-Kyle Patrick [$150]
10) 69-Rob Pietz [$150]
11) F37-Jamie Collard [$150]
12) 12C-Fred Cade [$150]
13) O-James Porter [$150]
14) 36-Jason Martin [$150]
15) 5-Keith Dempster [$150]
16) 38-Brad Knab [$150]
17) 3T-John Schuyler [$150]

A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 7S-Jason Sides[4] [$10,000]
2) 15-Donny Schatz[1] [$5,500]
3) 35-Jac Haudenschild[6] [$3,200]
4) 11-Steve Kinser[7] [$2,800]
5) 83-Danny Lasoski[11] [$2,500]
6) 9-Joey Saldana[3] [$2,300]
7) 7-Craig Dollansky[12] [$2,200]
8) D1-Justin Henderson[8] [$2,100]
9) 21-Daryn Pittman[20] [$2,050]
10) 20-Paul McMahan[5] [$2,000]
11) 11H-Kerry Madsen[17] [$1,500]
12) 18T-Tony Bruce Jr.[9] [$1,200]
13) 6-Tim Shaffer[18] [$1,100]
14) 10C-Jeremy Campbell[16] [$1,050]
15) 1X-Randy Hannagan[19] [$1,000]
16) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[2] [$900]
17) 24-Terry McCarl[23] [$800]
18) 8K-Chad Kemenah[13] [$800]
19) 4-Danny Smith[22] [$800]
20) R19-Jason Solwold[14] [$800]
21) 2M-Dustin Daggett[10] [$800]
22) 1Z-Jessica Zemken[21] [$800]
23) 5C-Chad Hillier[24] [$800]
24) 14-Jason Meyers[15] [$800]

Lap Leaders: Sam Hafertepe Jr. 1-13, Jason Sides 14-30
KSE Hard Charger: Daryn Pittman